VIENNA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Austrian cranemaker Palfinger
expects growth to slow in the second half as demand in
Europe slackens, it said on Thursday, while reporting
second-quarter operating profit that narrowly missed market
expectations.

"Since May 2014, Palfinger has recorded a slight decrease in
demand in some of the European core markets while considerable
growth potential is still seen in the non-European regions and
the global marine business area," it said.

"This circumstance and Palfinger's trend monitoring suggest
a moderately positive development in the second half of 2014.
Nevertheless, the management expects a double-digit (percentage)
increase in revenue in the current financial year."

Palfinger had forecast double-digit sales growth in
February, when it said it had seen a "slight upward trend" in
Europe in the second half of 2013.

It saw potential to boost annual sales to around 1.8 billion
euros ($2.4 billion) by 2017 by rolling out its broad product
line in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) emerging markets.

It said on Thursday second-quarter earnings before interest
and tax (EBIT) fell to 20.9 million euros from 21.1 million a
year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected EBIT of
22.2 million, up 5.2 percent.

Revenue rose to 272.5 million, beating the poll average of
268 million.